Should the average tourist be wary of street crime in BA? Thanks.

Yes, but not any more than the average tourist should be wary of street crime in other tourist destinations such as Paris, Rome, NYC, DC, Miami, LA or any other large metropolitan city in the world.

I agree 100%. I have not seen any crime at all ... a very save place is Recoleta.
I was told that you should watch for theft at Calle Florida, Boca ..

Buenos Aires is great. We just spend some time in Buenos Aires, East Coast USA and Paris, Madrid, Barcelona.

The prices for hotels, restaurants are:

-100 % USA
- 70 % Buenos Aires
-130 % Spain/France (in Spain wine was cheap)

Hotel suggestions
 

I will be in Bs As this coming weekend (3 nights, Thursday through Sunday) and need to book hotel reservations. I have considered all suggestions in this thread, but wanted to try and provide my requirements and see if an expert wants to respond with suggestions.

*Looking for hotels with great service and cleanliness
*Looking for hotels in "pedestrian" areas in the city where there are restaurants, shops, taxis, etc. Recommendations have included Recoleta and Microcentro.
*Bugdet is $50 to $75 USD
*Need to be able to access a PC with broadband connection (I will NOT be taking my laptop)
*Would like to get a free cell phone during the stay
*As a member of Skymiles, I would love to get miles as an added bonus (this is not a dealbreaker)

Thanks in advance!

If you adjusted the "access a PC with broadband connection" to include a willingness to use internet cafes, then the suggestion list for accomodations gets long enough that I can think of a few.

For "cell phone during the stay" at the budget level you are suggesting, you have two options that increase your hotel choices: a) rent a cell phone at the airport; or b) get a prepaid SIM card upon arrival if you have an unlocked GSM tri-band or quad-band phone.

Are those options?

*Looking for hotels with great service and cleanliness
*Looking for hotels in "pedestrian" areas in the city where there are restaurants, shops, taxis, etc. Recommendations have included Recoleta and Microcentro.
*Bugdet is $50 to $75 USD
*Need to be able to access a PC with broadband connection (I will NOT be taking my laptop)
*Would like to get a free cell phone during the stay

I believe you can get all this at Hotel L'Etoile in Recoleta.
However, their free Internet is slow.
http://www.etoile.com.ar/

May be also here, some FTs have recommended it:

http://www.reconquistaplaza.com.ar/

GUWonder... I am definitely willing to use internet cafe's, especially if they are located close to the hotel. About the cell phone, I have heard some hotels offer them, but I guess renting one at the airport would be the next best thing.

Related question: I will be making phone calls to the USA, to numbers within BS As, and also to numbers in Argentina, but outside of Bs As. What is the optimal way to deal with this? Should I get a cell phone AND a prepaid phone card? Do these phone cards work for all three types of calls?

Where is the best place to buy pesos? I will need to buy some at the airport, but I am sure I can get a better rate in the city.

Also, I could stretch the budget to a max of $100.

Thanks!

I'm not so sure about renting a cellphone. I did this with a company called Nolitel once and they charged a $1000 deposit to my credit card, without telling me. I found out one month later, and it took me several phone calls and faxes to get the money back. I had to dispute the charge and the credit card company did its own investigation. Also, it was way more expensive than normal carriers, and they gave me an ancient phone. It might be better to just buy a prepaid phone (you can get them for 100 pesos) or get yourself a local SIM card with Telecom Personal (if you have an unlocked GSM phone). In theory you need proof of residency but some places will sell them to you even with a foreign passport. Beware, it may take 24-48 hs to activate and it may be a hassle to find someone to sell you one. Maybe you should rent a cellphone after all, just make sure you know what you are getting.

The cellphone will definitely be cheaper for local calls, since they will charge you a local rate for the card access number on top of what the card costs. The card would work for the other two types of calls

If your bank doesn't charge foreign ATM fees, then you can't do better than ATM rates. You can exchange $ at the airport Banco Nacion, they will give you a fair rate. There's another booth at the airport which will rip you off, it's more visible than Banco Nacion and you should avoid it.

At the airport are at least two ATMs, one is from HSBC! You get the best rates at an ATM. No fees with my Netbank cash card.

Okay, Gaucho100K — I do not drink alcohol and know nothing about wine, but as an Intercontinental Ambassador member, I was given a bottle of Finca La Linda by Luigi Bosca, vintage 2003, as a gift.

Do you have any opinion about this bottle of red Malbec wine from Mendoza?

There are internet cafes on Florida, as well as in many other areas, at fairly inexpensive rates. Don't limit the hotel choice just because of their availability of a business center for you. As far as the cell phone goes, the hotels may provide them but they are very pricey to use - another alternative with your own phone, e.g. a SIM card from BsAs, would probably be more reasonably priced for you -- I'm not familiar with the alternatives but you should definitely talk with your own provider about rates from Argentina as well as look around when you're there.

Enjoy your trip. I have 3 more months till I'll be visiting again :cool:

B&Bs in Palermo
 

I'm torn between La Otra Orilla or Posada Palermo....both are around the same price. Does anyone know anything about them, or have a preference?
Thanks, Ellen

I don't know anything about La Otra Orilla, but we stayed at Posada Palermo in March. Viviana (the owner) is very nice and helpful, the rooms are nice, breakfast is good, etc. The back part of the house was actually designed by Viviana who is an architect. The street is a quiet residential one, though it is a bit dark at night. Transportation-wise, the Subte isn't that convenient from there, but taxis are plentiful and cheap. Otherwise the location is quite nice. Hope that helps...

Re: Street crime in BA
 

I have been staying in BA every 6 weeks for the last 2 years with few problems.

Here are a few tips: Don't dress like a tourist (no one over the age of 12 wears a baseball cap), try to blend in. Hide your wallet or purse and don't display cameras around your neck, carry them in a pack sack or tote bag.

Carry your cash in small amounts and do not pull out a wad of cash to pay for items. As for your jewellery, leave it at home.

When getting a cab make sure it has a Radio Taxi sign on the roof and door, some of the other cabs can be questionable.

Other than that you should have a great time, the people are great, food and wine are about 50% of what you would pay in most places and if you like shopping you have found one of the best places to shop in the world, so enjoy!

Thanks. It does help more than you know since I haven't seen either of them reviewed anywhere... I'm glad to learn of your experience there....It looks really terrific from the website, and, design-wise, much more up my alley than the web photos of La Otra Orilla.